Positive Body Image Group

Body image disturbance, or BID, can have negative effects on individuals and can be found among many different ages of women. In fact, BID can even be found in girls as young as age seven. Many negative effects have been attributed to BID, such as increased anxiety, stress, and depression, which can cause issues both psychologically and physically (Devaraj & Lewis, 2010). Therefore, there is a need to help women combat these negative effects of body image disturbance and help maintain a more positive body image.

Body image disturbance can be defined as a maladaptive internalization of an individual's weight, shape, and/or appearance, usually involving any combination of attitudinal, behavioral, and perceptual components (Bhatnagar, Wisniewski, Solomon, & Heinberg, 2013). The attitudinal component consists of beliefs about appearance and body satisfaction, and the behavioral component consists of the frequency of behaviors related to management of weight or avoidance. Furthermore, the perceptual component consists of the levels of accuracy estimating body shape and size (Bhatnagar et al., 2013). If symptoms of BID are left untreated, it has been found that there is a possibility for BID to worsen and develop into an eating disorder.

Research has shown that there is a strong connection between eating pathology and BID. Furthermore, BID is issued as a diagnostic criterion for both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Bhatnagar et al., 2013). There is a critical role of poor body image on both the onset and maintenance of eating disorders. Researchers have also found that elevated levels of BID are related to poorer responses to treatment and higher rates of relapse in individuals diagnosed with eating disorders. By confronting an...

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